Love is Insanity
by Paperturtles
Summary: AU. So, Rachel Berry is sent to the nut house, it's the beginning of a very beautiful life. Eventual Faberry.


**Chapter 1: The Skies are Grey.**

"Rachel? Honey, are you okay?"

Rachel Berry scowled. Her arms crossed across her chest as she ignored her father's sympathetic eyes, choosing instead to glare heavily at the trees and cars that passed by in a blur. Her father sighed, shifting back into his seat. She saw from the corner of her eye that he had reached over and grasped her other father's hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

She wanted to scoff and roll her eyes.

They were acting like this was hurting them more than it hurt her. They weren't the ones being mocked and ridiculed on a daily basis. They were never the ones that had to make weekly visits to some crackpot therapist who claimed her to be under severe mental strain and needed to rest. They weren't the ones being shipped off to _Bellevue Institute for the Mentally Ill and Deviant Juveniles_.

Of course Rachel would be _furious_ at her fathers.

At some stupid therapist words, they've all decided to send her off to some Institute for crazy people not even thinking about the damage it could do to her social reputation -or at least what little reputation she even had to begin with.

_She wasn't crazy._

Sure, she might have had an outburst in class, screaming at her peers and sure she may have thrown a minor fit of violence and locked herself in the girl's bathroom but that wasn't enough to send her off to a room with padded walls. She had a valid reason and if they had just listen to her side of the story, they wouldn't be sending her off to this goddamn forsaken institute of hooligans and crazy people.

It made her frustrated and uneasy.

She knew about Bellevue, everyone in Lima knew about Bellevue. It was about a 30 minute drive and the only _"crazy house"_ around, hard not to miss. But people don't talk about Bellevue. It's all hushed whispers and awkward silences when talked about amongst adults.

A lot of the kids at her school liked to drive by the institute, get close to the windows and see if they can agitate the patients in there. A right of passage amongst the boys or something ridiculous like that she believes.

_She didn't belong there._

She's 17-years-old, hormonal, and not exactly popular but she was gonna be a star. She was a teenager, not some bum with a shopping cart with a billion garbage bags, screaming at people in the subway! She shouldn't be housed in some institution, she should be vacationing by now or partying with friends _(if she had friends)_ or having some sweet romance.

No, instead she's here. In the family Toyota Camry, her pink suitcase in the trunk and her father's sharing meaningful looks as if this really pained them to have to send their own little girl to an institute. As if being the child of two dads in a small town like Lima didn't make her more of a freak, adding mental institution sure does.

She watched through the car window as other passing cars started to appear less and less. They were almost there and her gut felt like it had fell into an abyss.

She fidgeted nervously, the car slowing down as it approached the front gate. A big sign Bellevue planted right by the gate. She stared at it for a while as the metal gates began to open, the hope that they'll just turn this car around vanished when the car jerked forward and in they went to Bellevue.

A smiling male nurse waiting for them.

"We're here."

* * *

><p>Rachel watched her dad sign out a form and passed the clipboard back to a woman behind a desk. He smiled at her as she checked things over and paused.<p>

The woman was elderly enough, Rachel thought she could have been one of those sweet grandmothers if it weren't for the tight looking bun she decided to wear and the stern face that never seemed to change. She had looked at her father with a stare that seemed to have pierced the soul because her dad had shifted back a bit under that old lady's stare.

There was a name tag, '_Gwen Stevens_' and Rachel thought this woman, Gwen might have been a sweet pretty person in the past but decided no, the woman looked like she was a bitch then and probably still was a bitch now.

The older woman had looked over to Rachel with a pointed glare.

Rachel swallowed thickly, she stared back and wondered if the woman was psychic or something but then Gwen just looked over back to her fathers and said,

"She'll need to sign here."

The woman pointed to a line on the form. Her dad was a small man, pale skin and a warm smile that had faltered while taking back the clipboard into his hands. He looked nervously to that old lady, Gwen who only raised a brow and pursed her lips as he stuttered,

"Oh, we thought..Just that we're her..-Well, alright."

He looked uncertainly over at Rachel, she scowled -_she's been doing that a lot today._

"Rachel, sweetie if you could just.. -The form?"

She huffed and marched over to the desk, taking the offered pen from the woman and snatched the clipboard from her dad. She looked over the papers casually, reading what was on them and taking her time. The woman didn't seem to mind but she could feel her parents shifting uneasily as they watched her look over the forms.

She glared at a sentence written by her therapist:

"_Indifferent to others, severely depressed, has attempted suicide twice, violent outbursts-_"

She stopped reading and looked back at her dads. An incredulous and stunned look upon her face.

"I _never_ tried to kill myself, I'm not depressed or whatever that _whack-job_ says! He's _wrong_."

Her dad smiled uneasily, "Honey.."

It was obvious he didn't want to discuss the matter any further. He looked over to his husband unsure what else to say.

"Miss, you need to sign the form."

Rachel peered over to the woman behind the desk, who had waited patiently. Rachel was angry and furious but she wasn't rude, not like her father's apparently. She relented and signed her signature, drawing a star next to it. She slid the clipboard back to the woman with the pen on top.

The older woman had stared at her signature with a cocked brow before raising her gaze towards Rachel. Rachel, of course knew that look and nodded slightly,

"..Gold stars are kind of my thing..It's a metaphor for me being a star. -Metaphors are important."

The woman continued to stare and Rachel was feeling a growing unease in the pit of her stomach. She shifted on her feet before the woman set the clipboard aside.

_"It isn't gold, your star."_

* * *

><p>"Know that we'll always love you and we'll visit you for therapy sessions if we're needed and you know.. Just to visit." Her father smiled warmly at her.<p>

Her father was taller than her dad, much, much taller. He always wore crisp and clean pants, not a crease in sight. His right wrist adorned with a watch his father had given to him as a boy and half-rimmed glasses that seemed to slide a bit off his face every minute or so. He had always made her feel safe, comforted and protected.

His smile, small, curt and polite usually always made Rachel smile right back because then his smile though the same (small, curt and polite) would change just slightly and love would just peek through, around the corner of his lips. It was a very rare smile, she's never seen her father smile at anyone else like that. It was a special smile she supposed. A smile that only she could see.

_A smile just for her._

But this time around she didn't smile back when he smiled that special smile at her. She glared and his smile faltered as it slowly faded away. Love didn't peek around the corners this time. Her dad sighed, seeing the exchange and pulled Rachel into a hug, squeezing as hard as he could, like this would be the last he would ever see of her.

_Probably was._

"Get better soon, sweetie. The better you get, the sooner you can come home."

Rachel scoffed, "I'm _not_ sick, I'm _not_ crazy, I should be home _now_."

Her father gave a sympathetic eye. She wished he stopped that, it was making her stomach churn in fury. He laid his large hand on her shoulder, pushing his half-rimmed glasses up while smiling gently.

"We know sweetie.."

She wanted to shout, she wanted to scream and punch and kick and slap and stamp her feet, that if they knew she wasn't crazy, she shouldn't be here in the first place! But she bit her tongue hard and tasted copper instead. Scowling at her parents until that smiling male nurse came their way and continued scowling until her parents turned to leave.

Rachel was walking through the halls of Bellevue's woman's ward with a curly haired man. He had broad shoulders and his hair looked like he put a vat of hair gel in it that it glistened under the buildings lights. He looked nice though and genuinely sweet, his name tag read '_William Shuester_'.

He had peered over his shoulder, shooting her a pearly white smile,

"Speaking for the staff and doctors here, welcome to Bellevue! Best hospital in little Ohio."

His optimism made her want to throw up.

She looked around the halls, they were clean and white, it was almost blinding. The building looked relatively normal, except every single window was barred.

'_Caged like an animal.._' thought Rachel, her eyes looking back at William Shuester as they walked over towards a staircase that led up to the second floor.

Rachel paused in her steps and peered at Williams broad back,

"Has anyone actually ever leave?"

William grinned broadly, his chest seemed to puff up proudly as he spoke cheerfully, "Of course they have! We aim to help people, it's what we do. Plenty of patients have gotten better y'know-"

Rachel interrupted, a smirk quirking on the edge of her lips,

"Did they ever _stay_ out?"

Williams cheery grin, disappeared as if it had never been there. He turned his head and noticed how far behind Rachel was, so he too stopped and turned facing Rachel. The girl was giving a small smirk and his shoulder's slouched as his lips turned to a thin line, his eyes staring into Rachel's. She doesn't look away and cocks her head slightly to the left,

"Well, have they?"

She watches his brows slowly knitting together in disapproval, she can tell he's starting to dislike her. He doesn't answer or tries to talk to her the rest of the way and she's perfectly content with that.

* * *

><p>"Room # 229, you'll be sharing with a girl named Brittany. She's a real sweetheart."<p>

Rachel looked around, it certainly wasn't what she was expecting.

The second floor were flooded with patients, nurses and doctors just walking around in the halls. Chattering and talking, like it was school and they were just mingling on by before heading off to class. The rooms to her were a little more surprising.

No padded walls and no straight jackets. The windows, even in the rooms are of course barred though -to keep them from escaping she figures. Other than that, the room looked just what it was suppose to be, a room. Painted in a pale yellow color, the sun shining through the windows, coursing warmth in the small place. A regular room, containing two beds, two desks and two chairs. Occupation made for two.

_It was just a room._

One half of course looked well lived in, stuffed animals strewn across the bed. Picture frames, books and other stationary items were all neatly placed on the well-worn white desk. The walls decorated with hand-drawn pictures and photographs, it looked like a college dorm room in Rachel's honest opinion.

She turned to William and stared seriously at him,

"What's wrong with her?"

He raised a brow,

"Excuse me?"

"The girl, my room-mate, what's her condition?" asked Rachel seriously.

Williams mouth gaped open, staring at her like she had just spoken french to him. She huffed and crossed her arms impatiently,

"I'd like to know what's wrong with the girl so, I can be prepared with what I'm dealing with, if she's violent-"

"Brittany isn't violent."

Rachel paused and stared,

"So, what's wrong with her?"

William sighed, pushing past Rachel and setting her suitcase by her bedside. He turned and headed to leave the room before pausing and turning to face the short brunette. His face contorted to a quizzical stare and she stared right back him, unblinking, unashamed.

"Don't you think that's rude to ask?"

Rachel shrugged,

"I'm in a mental institution."

William gave a small smile,

"You're right."

He turned to leave and her face had turn into a frown, she followed him out and watched him walk down the hall without looking back. She frowned as she called out to him,

"You still haven't answered me!"

* * *

><p>When Brittany first came into the room, she twirled in and had gotten embarrassed when she realized someone else was in her room. She had blushed and fiddled with her hands before deciding to shyly wave and whisper a meek "Hi."<p>

Rachel had stared for a good 30 seconds, sizing up the tall girl with blonde hair before giving a "Hi." back.

As soon as those words left her lips, she found herself with a face full of hair, being tightly squeezed by two strong arms and a sweet giggle drifting into her ear. Brittany had released her after Rachel gave an awkward pat on the girl's back, blue eyes peering brightly into Rachel's dull brown eyes.

"You're Rachel Berry!"

Rachel nodded, shifting away from the taller girl.

"I am."

Brittany had grinned wide and bright,

"My new room-mate?"

Rachel only nodded, quite unsure what the girl would do. That Mr. Shuester didn't really say much about Brittany other than that she wasn't violent and a sweetheart. The blonde girl certainly seemed like a sweetheart but this was a mental ward. She couldn't be sure.

Brittany had squealed and giggled and clapped her hands excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Which Rachel realized were bare, '_no shoes.._'

"Are you a happy person Rachel?"

Rachel shrugged,

"Happy enough, I guess.."

Brittany's smile was already stretched so far but the girl managed to smile even more without looking strained and in a way the smile was infectious. The girl herself was infectious and Rachel couldn't help but give a smile back -albeit a small one- for the first time since she arrived here.

"Good! Because my last room-mate was sad a lot. Then, she killed herself."

Rachel's smile disappeared as she watched Brittany make a hanging gesture and gagging noises, indicating how the girl died, her ease disappearing. Brittany smiled though and reached over, entwining their hands together and swung it lightly between them,

"Welcome to Bellevue, best place on earth!"

Brittany's smiling face peered down at Rachel's expecting the girl to grin and agree but Rachel could only nod. The taller girl didn't care though, she giggled and pulled the girl along into the halls,

"You should meet everyone! They're all real nice!"

It was strange, the way Brittany had said it; it was genuine and Rachel wanted to believe it. But Rachel was in a mental ward with the word '_crazy_' stamped across her forehead by her peers, parents and therapist. So, it's not hard for Rachel to have doubts if people here were '_real nice_' when the people outside were _hardly_ nice at all.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: New story, another AU (maybe one day I'll write on in-universe!). This has been in my HD for a while so I thought why not get it out there! :D  
>I didn't really look over anything, so there might be a ton of mistakes in grammar and spelling and I apologize for that (maybe I'll get a beta, who wants the job? :D) but anyway, I might not really update this story very frequently just because I really have no idea where I'm going with it but when I do (hopefully soon!) expect a ton of chapters lolol! But for now thanks for the reading and uh review! :]<p> 


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